Muppets of the Opera (film)
Muppets of the Opera is a musical movie about Kermit, Fozzie, Champion and all their friends joining together to playing their version of The Phantom of the Opera. Synopsis Prologue At the Paris Emerald Clover Opera House in 1911, an auction of old props is underway. Lot 665, purchased by the elderly Raoul, Vicomte de Chagny (Scooter), is a music box in the shape of a monkey; he eyes it fondly, noting that its details appear "exactly as she said." Lot 666 is a shattered chandelier which, the auctioneer says, has a connection to "the strange affair of the Phantom of the Opera...a mystery never fully explained." As the chandelier illuminates, reassembles itself, and slowly rises over the audience to its old position in the rafters, the years roll back and the theatre returns to its 1880s grandeur. ("Overture") Act I It is now 1881. As Carlotta, the Opéra's resident soprano prima donna (Janice), rehearses for that evening's performance, a backdrop collapses without warning. "The Phantom! He's here!" the excited cast members whisper. The Opera's new owners, Firmin and André (Gonzo and Rowlf), try to downplay the incident, but Carlotta refuses to continue and storms offstage. Madame Giry (Skeeter), the Opéra's ballet mistress, tells Firmin and André that Christine Daaé (Miss Piggy), a Swedish chorus girl and orphaned daughter of a prominent violinist, has been "well taught", and could sing Carlotta's role. Rather than cancel the performance, the owners reluctantly audition Christine, and to their surprise, she is equal to the challenge. ("Think of Me") Backstage after her triumphant debut, Christine confesses to her best friend Pierre (Madame Giry's son) (Victor) that she knows her mysterious teacher only as an invisible "Angel of Music" ("Angel of Music"). The new patron, Raoul, the Vicomte de Chagny, finds Christine in her dressing room. It is revealed that they were once childhood friends. ("Little Lotte") Christine reminds Raoul about the "Angel of Music" stories that her late father used to tell them, and confides that the Angel has visited her, and taught her to sing. Raoul nonchalantly dismisses this notion, and invites her to dinner. After Raoul leaves, a very jealous Angel of Music appears as an image in Christine's mirror. ("Angel of Music/The Mirror") Christine begs him to reveal himself. The Phantom (Kermit the Frog) guides Christine through the mirror into a ghostly underground realm. ("The Phantom of the Opera") They cross a subterranean lake to his secret lair deep beneath the Opera House, an eerie place containing a pipe organ, a throne, and a life-sized doll resembling Christine, clothed in a wedding gown. The Phantom explains that he has chosen Christine to sing his music ("The Music of the Night"). As the Phantom composes music at his organ, ("I Remember...") Christine awakens to the sound of the monkey music box. She slips up behind the Phantom, lifts his mask, and beholds his face. The Phantom rails against her curiosity, then ruefully expresses his longing to look normal and to be loved by Christine ("Stranger Than You Dreamt It"). In the Opera House, Joseph Buquet (Champion the Cow), the Opéra's chief stagehand, who (like Mme. Giry) inexplicably knows a lot about the Phantom, regales everyone with tales of the "Opera Ghost" and his terrible Death lasso ("Magical Lasso"). Mme. Giry warns Buquet to exercise restraint. In the managers' office, Madame Giry delivers a note from the Phantom: He demands that Christine replace Carlotta in the new opera, Il Muto ("Notes..."). Firmin and Andre assure the enraged Carlotta that she will remain the star, ("Prima Donna") but during her performance, disaster strikes ("Poor Fool, He Makes Me Laugh"). The Phantom reduces Carlotta's voice to a frog-like croak. The backdrop lifts to reveal the corpse of Simon Buquet (Carlton Sebastian "Cookie" Jackson), hanging from the rafters by the Death lasso. In the ensuing melee, Christine escapes with Raoul to the roof, where she tells him about her subterranean rendezvous with the Phantom. Raoul is skeptical ("Why Have You Brought Me Here?/Raoul, I've Been There"), but swears to love and protect her always ("All I Ask of You"). The Phantom, who has overheard their conversation, is heartbroken. He angrily vows revenge against Raoul ("All I Ask of You (Reprise)"), and the Opera's mighty chandelier crashes to the floor as the curtain falls. Act II Six months later, in the midst of the gala masquerade ball ("Masquerade"), the Phantom makes his first appearance since the chandelier disaster. He announces that he has written an opera entitled "The Phantom of the Opera". He demands that it be produced immediately ("Why So Silent?"), with Christine, who is now engaged to Raoul, in the lead role as herself. He then seizes Christine's engagement ring and vanishes. Raoul demands that Madame Giry tell him about the Phantom. She replies that he is a brilliant musician and magician, born with a terrifyingly deformed face, who escaped from captivity in a traveling freak show and disappeared. Raoul hatches a plan to use The Phantom of the Opera as a trap to capture the Phantom. ("Notes/Twisted Every Way") Christine, torn between her love for Raoul and her reluctance to see the Phantom imprisoned again, visits her father's grave ("Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again"). The Phantom appears, ("Wandering Child") but Raoul arrives to protect her. ("Bravo, Monsieur!") The Phantom declares war upon them both. The Phantom of the Opera debuts, with Christine and Ubaldo Piangi (Rizzo), the Opéra's leading tenor, singing the lead roles: Christine and the Phantom, Claudin Adan. ("The Point of No Return") During their duet, Christine suddenly realizes she is singing not with Piangi, but the Phantom himself. Christine tears off his mask to expose his hideous face to the audience, as Piangi is found strangled backstage. The Phantom seizes Christine and flees the theatre. A mob is soon in hot pursuit. Madame Giry tells Raoul and Joseph Buquet about the Phantom's subterranean lair, reminding him to beware the Death lasso. In the lair, Christine is compelled to don a wedding dress. ("Down Once More/Track Down This Murderer") Raoul and Joseph find the lair, but the Phantom captures them both with his Death Lasso. He tells Christine he will free Raoul and Joseph if she agrees to stay with him forever; if she refuses, Raoul and Joseph shall die. ("Final Lair") Christine tells the Phantom it is his soul, not his face, that is distorted, and kisses him. The Phantom, having experienced kindness and compassion for the first time, sets them both free. Christine returns the ring he gave her, and listens in pity as he tells her he loves her. She then forces herself to turn away, and leaves with Raoul. However, at the last minute, Christine returns to the Phantom. The Phantom, now happy, kisses Christine and gives her a mask made for her as he sings a brief reprise of "The Music of the Night" before sitting on his throne and covering himself with his cape. The mob storms the lair, and Pierre pulls away the cape, but the Phantom and Christine have vanished; only Christine's mask remains. Epilogue The final act shows an epilogue where Christine and Claudin (the Phantom) are: They are still living in the Paris Emerald Clover Opera House cellars. As they kiss, the camera moves to a wardrobe where all of Claudin's outfits and Christine's outfits (which all look the same) are. Then at the top of Christine's wardrobe is a photo which shows Claudin and Christine on their wedding day. As Christine (offscreen) cackles like the Phantom, the Narrator (Clifford the Catfish) says that she is now "The Phantress of the Opera"! Characters The characters who appear in this film are: